Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [87]
At least as famous as the hamburgers are Litton’s desserts: coconut cream pie, old-fashioned red velvet cake, creamy banana pudding, and five kinds of freshly baked cookies every day. The one dessert that brings us to our knees is Italian cream cake, a creamy, buttery concoction with old-fashioned simplicity that goes perfectly with a lingering cup of after-meal coffee.
Litton’s has been around for years and its walls are covered with mementoes of old Knoxville. It is a fun place to eat, but for those who prefer to dine rather than merely eat, there is a classier “Backroom” with its own upscale menu of Continental fare. For a seat in either place, expect a wait at peak mealtimes.
Merridee’s Breadbasket
110 Fourth Ave. S.
615–790–3755
Franklin, TN
BL | $
Our friend Roger Waynick, a Franklin resident who first brought us to Merridee’s, described it as the kind of place where locals go not only to eat but also to chat with each other throughout the day. Opened in 1981 by Merridee Erickson, it is situated in an old building that used to be a harness shop, and it is now run by Jim and Marilyn Kreider. Merridee’s is a casual kind of place where people come early in the day to buy breads and pastries to take home or to sit down for breakfast of ham-egg-cheese breakfast braids or biscuits and gravy. Lunch is served between 11:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. each day, and it is available packed and ready to go for picnics, or on plates to eat here.
Place your order at the counter, and they call your name when it is ready, by which time, hopefully, you have found a table. It’s a large menu that includes hot breakfasts and a vast array of oven-fresh rolls (almond swirl, cinnamon twist, sticky bun, muffins, biscuits, scones, etc.) as well as lunch of sandwiches, salads, and crescents (“No, not croissants!” says the menu), which are homemade bread doughs wrapped around turkey and honey mustard, spinach and feta cheese, or roast beef and Swiss. While the choice of sandwiches is vast, pimiento cheese is an essential.
Pimiento cheese is a passion in the mid-South. It is not dramatically different from any ordinary cheese spread, but that subtle difference is just the point. Pimiento cheese is all about nuance: the slight zip of chopped pimientos and sweet relish and their red and green sparkle in the orange cheese. While hearty and satisfying, it has a refined character that sings of ladies’ lunchrooms, afternoon tea, and Dixie finesse.
For dessert: cake, pie, fudge brownies, and sugar tea cakes, available with espresso coffee drinks.
One Stop Café
901 Columbia Ave.
615–794–3881
Franklin, TN
BL | $
One Stop Café is a locals’ favorite stop for breakfast and lunch. We came for lunch on Monday, which is chicken and dumplings day. This was about the best chicken and dumplings imaginable: big chunks of soft meat floating in creamy gravy with tender drifts of dumpling. Other daily specials include fried chicken Tuesday, meat loaf Wednesday, chicken and dressing Thursday, and catfish Friday. Every day you can get One Stop’s magnificent pork barbecue, served in a heap of big, fall-apart shreds that are so moist and smoky-good that you hardly want any sauce (although each table is set with squeeze bottles of hot and mild for squirting).
With an entree, choose from a large menu of such sides as turnip greens, cream corn, hash brown casserole, mac and cheese, baked cinnamon apples, etc. The menu lists twenty-four different side dishes! Along with any of these full meals, you want a big slab of light corn bread, which is sweet and dense as cake.
Service is cafeteria-style. Tote your own tray and fill your own cups with iced tea (sweet, of course).
Pancake